The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 letter word LENS
I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
L
E
N
S
More clues leading to the result LENS
- Partly swollen stye in part of the eye
- What can magnify part of pollen sac
- French city / that's transparent
- Hutton’s eyepiece?
- Rakes clearing central area for legumes
- Maybe Goodman’s means of seeing French town
- It affords clearer views of valleys, heading off
- Cyril’s partner often succeeded, making contact?
- Device for paparazzi from Smolensk
- Some looker in French city
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "means of seeing/French town" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case means of seeing/french town = lens.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.
What does LENS mean?
LENS noun- An object, usually made of glass, that focuses or defocuses the light that passes through it.
- A device which focuses or defocuses electron beams.
- A convex shape bounded by two circular arcs, joined at their endpoints, the corresponding concave shape being a lune.
- A genus of the legume family; its bean.
- The transparent crystalline structure in the eye.
- (earth science) A body of rock, ice, or water shaped like a convex lens.
- A construct used in statically-typed functional programming languages to access nested data structures.
- (by extension) A way of looking, literally or figuratively, at something.
- To film, shoot.
- To become thinner towards the edges.